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14
THE EMPOWERED NURSE

6

THE HANDS

This topic is submitted from the hands of nurse research scholars
at VUMC and changes with each issue.

Peer-to-Peer Mentoring: What’s in It
for Me?

Whether you are a new nurse, transitioned to a new area of mentee. As an advisor, mentors are not responsible for evaluat-
nursing, or have many years of experience, a mentoring relation- ing day-to-day activities or for solving their problems. Mentors
ship can have a lasting impact on your life, both personally and do not typically teach specific clinical skills or procedures yet
professionally. A positive mentoring experience benefits the offer a nonjudgmental ear for the mentee to discuss clinical con-
mentor and the mentee and can benefit nurses at all levels. cerns. Depending on the mentee’s goals, the mentor may help
While the terms mentorship and preceptorship have been with continued socialization and networking within the organi-
used as like terms, there are distinct differences between them. A zation, communication techniques, career opportunities, and
preceptor is someone with knowledge that has been formally as- problem solving. Through their own experiences and expertise,
signed to an orientee and there is a set goal. They are in a mentors can guide mentees on next steps and available re-
teacher-student relationship and the preceptor often has a check- sources. A commonly held belief of mentoring is that the rela-
list of items to accomplish to complete the onboarding process. tionship needs to be hierarchical. Another valuable form of
This preceptor-orientee pairing is for a set orientation time pe- mentoring is peer-to-peer mentoring, in which nurses at the
riod. The preceptor has a multitude of roles, such as role model, same level at an organization, such as staff nurses, share their ex-
educator, socializer, and evaluator. Preceptors demonstrate new pertise with each other (Race & Skees, 2010).
skills, observe and assist the new nurse with performing these Mentor and mentee matching plays an essential role in
skills, and evaluate the orientee’s performance. The preceptor mentoring success. Weese, Jakubik, Eliades, & Huth (2015) used
will then observe the orientee complete this task independently. a variety of ways to introduce potential mentees with mentors
Precepting has well-defined outcomes and the relationship ends and stressed that the pair be from different units, not be in a su-
with the completion of orientation. pervisory role, and have similar clinical focus. For example, an
A mentor, however, is not someone who is responsible for adult oncology nurse may be the ideal mentor for a pediatric on-
evaluating. The expectation of a mentorship is one of collegial- cology nurse. Being from different areas may increase the level
ity and is more of a partnership. The mentor and mentee rela- of confidentiality and comfort with sharing challenging situa-
tionship can be formal or informal, a set amount of time or tions. Conversely, Rush, K. L., Adamack, M., Gordon, J., Lilly,
open-ended, and the mentor is able to guide and advise the M., & Janke, R. (2013) proposed that the pair be on similar
schedules to provide easier access to meet and be from the same
department to increase the understanding of transition chal-
“ would have specific benefits. The goal was to predict benefits for
lenges.
Weese et al. (2015) studied which mentoring practices

Effective mentorship is reciprocal and both mentors and mentees. Effective mentorship is reciprocal
can positively impact individuals and health and can positively impact individuals and health care organiza-
care organizations by instilling a sense of tions by instilling a sense of belonging, improving job satisfac-
belonging, improving job satisfaction, tion, promoting professional development, improving clinical
competence, and instilling career optimism. Mentors with posi-
promoting professional development,
tive personality traits, knowledge, and clinical competence have
improving clinical competence, and the highest impact on mentees. Formal mentoring is usually
instilling career optimism.” time limited and may range from six months to one year. Some